News for July 21, 2005

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London Blasts Cause Chaos On Tube (July 21, 2005) - London’s Tube network has been plunged into chaos with stations cleared after minor blasts on two trains and a bus. Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair said three Tube lines were suspended but it was time London returned to normal. The minor explosions - two weeks after blasts killed 56 - involved detonators only, a BBC reporter said. There was one injury. Police sources say the blasts may have been near simultaneous and that they are being linked with the 7 July bombs. They say a number of fugitives are being sought. Two people have been arrested in Whitehall. more...

Hollywood Finds Jesus (July 21, 2005) - Hollywood has found a new marketing tool, Jesus Christ. Following the tremendous success of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” which took in $370 million at the domestic box office, mainstream Hollywood is adjusting to what it perceives to be a rising religiosity in America. Directors, studio executives and marketing experts have been seeking to entice an audience that made its power felt with “Passion,” according to a report in the International Herald Tribune. “Mel Gibson did us a service,” said Bob Waliszewski, a media specialist with Focus on the Family, an evangelical group. “The Hollywood elites’ eyes widened big time. They said, ‘I thought the church was dead. Is it possible that we don’t know what’s happening in state after state? And the answer is a resounding yes.’” more...

As Hot As It’s Ever Been (July 20, 2005) - Temperatures tied all-time highs for both Denver and Colorado on Wednesday. The mercury reached 114 degrees Fahrenheit in Sedgwick, near the Nebraska border. That matched temperatures recorded in Las Animas in 1933 and Sedgwick in 1954, according to the Colorado Climate Center of Colorado State University. In Denver, it was 105 degrees, equaling a record set on Aug. 8, 1878. Wednesday’s reading was at Denver International Airport, the official checkpoint. It was 106 degrees downtown. The heat didn’t seem to have a great effect on most people’s activities. There were some power outages and some heat maladies, but most kept on with their routines. more...

Tunnel revealed at U.S.-Canada border (July 21, 2005) - After monitoring its construction for several months, federal agents arrested three Canadians in connection with an elaborate smuggling tunnel at the U.S.-Canada border in Washington state. Border Patrol officials, who provided video of the tunnel, said it was the first discovered on the northern border. Thirty-three tunnels have been found along the U.S.-Mexican border in California and Arizona. Police said the tunnel, about 360 feet long, was used for smuggling marijuana, but it also was a threat to national security. more...

Israeli march to Gaza called off (July 21, 2005) - After an intense standoff last night between tens of thousands of protesters and a massive police force, the Israeli march to Gaza to halt next month’s evacuation of the area was called off. Meanwhile, about two thousand marchers still are attempting to reach Gaza and breach its main checkpoint. Yesterday, tens of thousands of marchers rested in the Kfar Meimon farming community about 15 miles south of Gaza after pushing through a barrier of thousands of security forces who tried to halt their protest the night before. The marchers awakened to find themselves completely surrounded by a force of over 20,000 police officers and soldiers. more...

Canada Legalizes Gay Marriage (July 21, 2005) - Canada legalized gay marriage Wednesday, becoming the world's fourth nation to grant full legal rights to same-sex couples. Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin signed the legislation making it law, hours after it was approved by the Senate late Tuesday night despite strong opposition from Conservatives and religious leaders. The bill gives homosexual couples the same rights as those in traditional unions between a man and a woman, something already legal in eight of Canada’s 10 provinces and in two of its three territories. The legislation drafted by Prime Minister Paul Martin’s minority Liberal Party government easily passed the Senate, which essentially rubber stamps any bill already passed by the House of Commons, which passed it late last month. more...

Quake sounds reveal Earth ‘ripping apart’ (July 21, 2005) - Scientists are gaining insight about December’s devastating earthquake and tsunami from the actual sounds of the magnitude 9.3 quake in the Indian Ocean. “It’s really quite an eerie sound to hear the Earth ripping apart like that. We hear it on smaller earthquakes quite frequently but something of this scale that goes on for eight minutes is very much unprecedented,” said Maya Tolstoy, a marine geophysicist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “It really gave me the chills when I first heard it,” she said. The dramatic soundtrack of the rupture of the Sumatra-Andaman Fault comes from a little known, and sometimes hard- to- access resource. The microphones that captured the sound are part of a global network of instruments that monitor compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. more...

New super bug outbreak sweeps southern England (July 21, 2005) - An outbreak of a super bug resistant to antibiotics has infected more than 1,000 people and caused dozens of deaths. The bug, which can lead to blood poisoning, is spreading in southern England and is more serious than Clostridium difficile, which hit the headlines last month after a virulent strain infected 15 hospitals. The new super bug, an antibiotic-resistant strain of E.coli, put 357 people in hospital in the Southampton area in 2004, half of all those infected, and caused 29 deaths. It is still spreading through the community and attempts to control it have so far failed. more...

400 scientists skeptical of Darwin (July 21, 2005) - More than 400 scientists from all disciplines have signed onto a growing list of skeptics of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life, according to the Seattle-based Discovery Institute. “Darwin’s theory of evolution is the great white elephant of contemporary thought,” said David Berlinski, a mathematician and philosopher of science with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, or CSC. “It is large, almost completely useless, and the object of superstitious awe.” The Discovery Institute, a leading proponent of Intelligent Design, first published its Statement of Dissent from Darwin in 2001. more...

‘Godcasts’ booming across the Internet (July 21, 2005) - Behold the Godcaster, spreading religion and spirituality, one iPod at a time. Godcasts, religious and spiritually themed podcasts, have been fruitful and multiplied, becoming the most popular use of the new online technology since it debuted less than a year ago. Searches for “Godcast” and “pod preachers” increased 355 percent in just one month this spring, according to the Internet search engine Lycos, on par with searches for the super model Naomi Campbell and the television show “ER.” In a podcast, radio-style broadcasts are posted on the Internet and can be downloaded to an iPod or MP3 player so that the listener can tune in anywhere, anytime. What makes podcasting so novel is that fans can also subscribe to their favorite podcasts, programming their digital music player to download the latest show automatically. more...

CVS, 7-Eleven, and others have announced plans to deploy contactless readers in test markets nationwide (July 20, 2005) - On Track Innovations announced that its Saturn 5000 contactless reader has received certification from Visa USA to support its contactless payment program. The Saturn 5000 has already received certification by major US financial institutions. Visa along with MasterCard and American Express have already announced that they are in different stages of implementation for contactless payment programs. Recently 7-Eleven, CVS, and others have announced plans to deploy contactless readers in test markets nationwide. more...

Death Toll Up to 13 in Phoenix Heat Wave (July 20, 2005) - A blistering heat wave is being blamed for the deaths of at least 13 people in Phoenix, prompting officials to ask for donations of ice and water bottles for those sweltering without air conditioning. Eleven of the victims since Saturday were homeless, and the other two were elderly women, including one whose home cooling system wasn't on, police said Wednesday. more...

An earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale jolted Taiwan (July 20, 2005) - The quake struck at 9:06 pm (1306 GMT), with an epicenter 38.9 kilometers (23.34 miles) northeast of Suao, a coastal town in northeastern Ilan county. It originated 1.8 kilometers under the sea, the Seismology Center said Wednesday. The strong quake came hours after a weaker 4.6-magnitude earthquake with an epicenter 26 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of Peinan village in the southeast. Taiwan, lying near the junction of two tectonic plates, is shaken regularly by earthquakes. The country’s worst, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, struck in September 1999 and left some 2,400 people dead.

Israeli Police Seal Off Gaza Settlersss (July 20, 2005) - Israeli police backed by officers on horseback sealed off an encampment filled with thousands of Jewish settlers and their supporters Tuesday, trading punches and dragging off protesters in the biggest confrontation yet over Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. The government has vowed to stop protesters from marching to Gaza Strip settlements marked for evacuation in August, fearing that more Israeli hard-liners at the sites would further complicate the contentious pullout. more...

Former Bush official to get RFID tag (July 19, 2005) - Tommy Thompson, the Health and Human Services Secretary in President Bush’s first term and a former Governor of Wisconsin, is going to get tagged. Thompson has joined the board of Applied Digital, which owns VeriChip, the company that specializes in subcutaneous RFID tags for humans and pets. To help promote the concepts behind the technology, Thompson himself will get an RFID tag implanted under his skin. more...

Second Earthquake Hits Big Island (July 19, 2005) - Residents of the Big Island, Maui and Oahu felt another temblor Sunday morning. The estimated five-point-two magnitude earthquake struck at 9:15. The U-S Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory located the quake off the coast, about 69 miles south of Hilo. No injuries or damage were reported as the result of the quake.

Moderate Earthquake In Molucca Seaa (July 19, 2005) - A moderate earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale occurred at 3.37 am Tuesday in the Molucca Sea of Indonesia. According to the Malaysian Meteorological Services Department, the earthquake occurred at 0.3 degrees South and 125.7 degrees East of the Molucca Sea or 987 km southeast of Tawau, Sabah. It said in a statement that tremors might not be felt in the east coast of Sabah.

Russia’s Basmanny Court Asked Again to Criminalize Jewish Organizationss (July 19, 2005) - Yet another demand to ban Jewish religious organizations in Russia was lodged Monday with Moscow’s Basmanny Court. The 15,000 signatories have asked the court to force prosecutors to launch a criminal case against the leaders of Jewish organizations that, in their words, are “the propagators of the morals of Shulchan Aruch,” the Interfax news agency quoted the letter as saying. more...

100,000 Israelis march to Gaza (July 19, 2005) - Nearly 100,000 people have poured into a central meeting site several miles south of Gaza for a massive protest rally against next month's Gaza evacuation. The protesters will shortly begin marching to Gaza to halt the evacuation, while over 10,000 Israeli police and soldiers prepare to stop them. The Yesha settlers council last month called for tens of thousands to meet for a rally today in the southern town of Nativot and walk the 20 miles to the main entrance to Gush Katif, the large slate of Jewish neighborhoods in Gaza. The rally was called for 4 p.m. local time but was postponed when only about 4,000 people were able to get past dozens of makeshift checkpoints on the roads leading to the area. more...

The sweltering Arctic (July 19, 2005) - As two sea-doos bounced around in the cool water, the river was an ideal place for residents of this Nunavik community to escape from the oppressive heat. “Half the community is there, I’ve never seen so many people in the water before,” said one woman who confessed to going to work wearing a wet swimsuit under her clothes to keep cool. Temperatures in this Eastern Hudson Bay community hit 36.6 C on Monday, making Kuujjuaraapik the hottest place in Quebec and breaking the previous record of 29.4 C, set in 1969. But Tuesday was even hotter. The day’s high climbed to 37 C, breaking the previous record high of 28.3 C set in 1998. These temperatures were much higher than the normal temperature range of around 15 C. more...

Drought sweeps away tons of soil (July 18, 2005) - Australia is getting flatter as a combination of drought and wind sweeps millions of tons of topsoil into the ocean, an expert has warned. Griffith University dust storm scientist Grant McTainsh said that recent rainfall across Australia’s eastern states could, ironically, fuel a fierce dust storm this year like that responsible for blowing 4.85 million tons of topsoil into the atmosphere and ocean in less than 24 hours in October 2002. “That was a massive huge front that extended from Mildura (in Victoria) to Mount Isa (in Queensland) and was equivalent to more than 100,000 semi-trailer loads of top soil,” Dr McTainsh said. “For comparison, annual sediment captured by the Brisbane River equals about 100,000 tons annually.” more...

Drought tightens its deadly grip in Europe (July 18, 2005) - Drought in Europe tightened its deadly grip on Monday as a forest blaze that killed 11 firefighters raged in Spain, and with weekend temperatures soaring in France, authorities scrambled to protect the elderly. Spain and Portugal are suffering their worst droughts since records began in the 1940s, and in western France, water levels are at their lowest since the major drought of 1976. Parched conditions now stretch from north Africa to the French capital, causing billions of euros worth of damage as crops shrivel, rivers dry up and pastures turn to dust. more...

Million at risk in Italy heat wave (July 18, 2005) - A heat wave in Italy has put the health of one million people at risk and the government has warned the situation could be even worse than the summer of 2003 when 20,000 people died due to soaring temperatures. Authorities have asked local doctors to keep an eye on their patients above 75 years of age who are most vulnerable, hoping to avoid a repeat of the death-rate of two years ago which has just been revised up from 8,000. “We are faced with a heat wave that is equal if not worse than in 2003 (and) around one million people are at risk,” Health Minister Francesco Storace told a news conference. more...

Jewish Settlers Clash With Israeli Forces (July 18, 2005) - Israeli security forces clashed early Monday with Jewish settlers trying to break a blockade placed on Gaza Strip settlements, a possible preview of confrontations later in the day when opponents to a planned withdrawal from Gaza try to march to the coastal area. The two days of clashes at the crossing point between Jewish settlers and police are expected to get worse when security forces enter the Gaza Strip in mid-August to evacuate 8,500 settlers. In early September the army will remove an additional 500 settlers from four West Bank settlements. Elsewhere, Israel on Sunday threatened to invade Gaza if Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas does not control militants who have stepped up rocket and mortar attacks ahead of Israel’s planned pullout from the coastal strip next month. more....

Earthquake centers near NyaungU (July 18, 2005) - An earthquake of moderate intensity 5.5 Richter Scale with its epicentre near NyaungU, about 270 miles north of Kaba Aye seismological observatory was recorded at 7 hours, 35 minutes and 46 seconds MST today. The earthquake caused no damage.

Another earthquake shakes the Big Islandd (July 18, 2005) - The estimated five-point-two magnitude temblor struck at 9:15 and was felt throughout the Big Island and as far away as Maui and Oahu.

Moderate earthquake jolts Kupang eastern Indonesiaa (July 18, 2005) - A 5.6-magnitude earthquake jolted the eastern Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara on Monday morning, but there were no reports of casualty or damage, officials said. The quake shook Kupang, the provincial capital of East Nusa Tenggara on the western part of Timor island at about 8:05 a.m. local time, said Wijayanto, an official at Jakarta’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG).

Earthquake Jolts Mount St. Helens Volcanoo (July 17, 2005) - A magnitude 3 earthquake rattled Mount St. Helens on Friday, triggering rockfall and sending an ash plume above the crater rim, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.